Levi Clay

Hailing from Ipswich, Levi moved to London in 2008 to pursue his ambitions as a guitar player. He attended London's Guitar Institute and graduated with his Degree in music performance in 2011. He also holds a level 6 LRSL Licentiate in Music Teaching, making him a popular choice as a teacher in both London and around the world.

Levi holds professional positions teaching, transcribing and writing for great companies including IGF, Guitar International, and for artists around the world (Andy James, Daniele Gottardo Tom Quayle, Andy Wood, Michael Dolce etc).

As a player Levi gigs around London with his rock outfit "Hellcat Molly". As a solo artist Levi continues to explore the world of jazz and fusion while working on new material - This material has won competitions for Levi to play for Steve Vai and currently sees him in the Guitar Idol top 100.

Levi is one of the fastest rising names on the British guitar scene and there is no telling just where he may pop up next

The world of building guitars, or luthiery, is one full of competition. There are guys all over the world that will build you a guitar to your specifications for a variety of prices, and I only see this as a good thing. The downside can be seen when you draw a parallel to any other craft, most people can change a fuse in a plug, but it doesn't mean you'd hire them as an electrician. I cook my dinner everynight, but you wouldn't pay me to cook for you. I've watched CSI, but I'm not a forensic investigator. Building guitars is the same, just because you can put some pickups in a piece of wood, it doesn't make you an artist.

Musical harmony has come a long way in the last 150 years, so far in fact that it could be easy to fall into a rut of repetition, never breaking any new ground. Bebop itself was born out of frustration and experimentation, the youth of the day pushing the boundaries and seeing what happened. Today we're going to look at some post bop experementation that you might find in the lines of saxophonists like Michael Brecker and Jerry Bergonzi. he focus will be the synthetic scale known as the tritone scale, so come and have a look if you want to insert a little of the devil into your playing.

Ok, this might very well be deemed as cheating, as not all that many bop players were playing over funk grooves, but hopefully you're starting to see the point of this series now. We're using bop as a starting point for our phrasing ideas and exploring all of these complex tonalities to twist the listeners ear. So in an unscheduled break from true bop we're going to take a look at my favourite guitarist - Scott Henderson, and a sound which is very common in his playing, the lydian dominant scale.

So, last time in Bop 'n' Roll we took a look at the (half whole) diminished scale. We were using this as a way of creating tension which can then be resolved by moving to chord one of the key (or chord one of a new key). This practice of tension and resolution is common in bebop; but what if you want to create a little bit of spice over a chord that isn't resolving? What if you want to just get a little bit out to twist the listeners ears? For that we will start by taking a look at the melodic minor scale.

Hello my good friends, I'm back with another article for you after a long break from instructional material. This time we're going to be looking at something I spent some time working on with my good friend Martin Miller - this one's for you mate, and to many more years of your shared wisdom.

In this instalment of Bop 'n' Roll we're going to look a little deeper into one of bebop's defining characteristics then talk about how we can apply it to your own playing. This will work in rock, pop, fusion and blues, so dont just think these articles are restricting you to jazz.

It's that time again, yet another Guitar Idol final where we get to see an array of guitarists from around the world to do battle for that coveted title - "Guitar Idol".

This third competition has been plagued by misfortune to say the least. Lot's of false starts and postponed deadlines, lots of reschedualing of events and fighting to actually get a live final. At long last, Lick Library have sprung to the rescue and hosted a full day event at London's Relentless Garage. Read on for a full review.

For many, "Fusion" is the buzz word of the day on our scene. It seems that everyone and their dog spend their days shreding over Am7 to Cm7 vamps and thinking their part of this new wave of player. Sadly this isn't the case, fusion has a LONG rich history dating back over 40 years (Miles David "Bitches Brew" anyone?). One of the biggest names on the fusion scene is Chick Corea. Chick's first real foray into fusion was with his band "Return To Forever" before making real waves with his "Elektric Band" which would eventually feature Frank Gambale.

At last we reach the final part of our coverage on the Jason Becker Not Dead Yet 2011 festival. Hopefully you've enjoyed what I've been able to share with you so far and hopefully this has spurred you to go out and check out some of these guys. So far we've covered some pretty hot names like Andy James, and Daniele Gottardo but these guys are samll fish compared to the names we have in this last instalment; so read on and be inspired. There's a lot to tell you about the artists involved in this part of the show, but as always we're here for Jason, so allow me a minute to highlight some ways in which you can get involved and help out.

Tommy Emmanuel is nothing short of an enigma. He's one of the most sublime guitarists I've ever listened to and that's probably because unlike most guitarists with technique to die for, Tommy chooses to use his powers for good (music) rather than evil (self indulgence). You could think of him as a superhero, setting an example for us all and reminding us why we started playing in the first place. Perhaps Tommy is the hero Jerry Reed was singing about, he's our swinging little Guitar Man! Tommy's skills haven't gone unnoticed though and he's one of only 4 players given the title C.G.P. (Certified Guitar Player) by the legendary Chet Atkins.

Here we are, back for part two on the Jason Becker "Not Dead Yet 2011" show in Amsterdam. Part one saw some great players that you may not know of, along with a couple of big names. This part will feature some of the biggest names in the game, who need no introduction. There are some many players here with such unique voices I couldn't help but include some of their greatest licks just so you can dig a little deeper into their style. And no article on Jason would be complete without some coverage of the master's licks, so read on for an analysis of some of Jason's greatest recorded moments - just don't let it stop here!